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AVAQMD Governing Board Member

Vern Lawson, Los Angeles County 5th District

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Vern Lawson is currently the Director of Economic Development/Redevelopment for the City of Lancaster’s Redevelopment Agency. Mr. Lawson holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from UCLA and has completed graduate work at California State University Long Beach and California State University Los Angeles. Mr. Lawson has over thirty-five years of local government management experience. He has a wealth of experience in business attraction, creation, and retention programs that have brought significant economic activity to the City of Lancaster.

From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Lawson held the position of Marketing and Economic Development Manager. During this time, he was involved in a list of notable projects and achievements such as the Lancaster Business Park, which includes 90 businesses that employs over 4,200 workers. He was involved in the process that attracted Countrywide Home Loans, which occupies 13 acres and will employ 1,600 workers when fully staffed; SYGMA’s 110,000 sq. ft. Food Distribution Center will employ 300 citizens; Starwood Hotels & Resorts Reservation Call Center, created 250 new jobs; Regent Aerospace, which will start construction this summer and plans to employ 300 people; and much more. Vern was instrumental in bringing in retailers via the Lancaster Town Center at Avenue K and 10th Street West; the Valley Central Shopping Center, which will host a Wal-Mart Super Store; the upcoming Lancaster Spectrum Center on 20th Street West; and is currently working on the Promenade at Amargosa Creek project.

Mr. Lawson was previously the Executive Director of the Lancaster Economic Development Corporation for 17 years. Under his direction, the corporation developed the 240-acre Lancaster Business Park, which included one of California’s first incubator facilities. A sister organization which Mr. Lawson also directed, known as the Antelope Valley Local Development Corporation, served as the development arm of the LEDC and was a certified local development corporation under the SBA 504 Loan Program.